The Orlando Sentinel’s lead editorial on Christmas Day, “Regard immigration in the spirit of the season” engages in hypocritical emotional blackmail against Christians by aiming to use their own religious precepts against them – Christians being one group the paper has never held any brief for previously.
The soppy, manipulative pro-illegal immigration editorial (which never raised the term "illegal," and was yet another prominent Sentinel piece strangely absent from the paper’s own website) regifted a photo from a previous Sentinel sob story about a Florida immigrant convicted of rape, and bizarrely placing a 120-word mini-editorial within the photo caption, even though the incident wasn’t mentioned in the editorial itself. The caption in full:
Sandy Adams with her mom, Gayle Bojerski, on Nov. 12. Bojerski's husband, Paul John Bojerski, 79, was incarcerated at Alligator Alcatraz until recently, when he was transferred to ICE detention in Miami. He's lived in this country since he was 5, after being born in a WWII refugee camp in Germany to Polish parents. They came into this country legally, but he faced deportation as a young man after a couple of arrests in the 1960s and 1970s invalidated his legal status. He thought the case was dismissed after he went to Canada on his honeymoon but immigration officials kept dusting off his case. For decades he simply reported to immigration officials once a year and lived his life as an optician, raising a family and enjoying his grandkids.
One of those cases ended up with Bojerski convicted of rape, a useful fact that somehow didn’t make the mini-editorial above.
The actual editorial noted with approval that some “traditional Nativity scenes” were being repurposed as political statements in various states:
Each display conveys the same message: Had Joseph and Mary been caught in today's America, friendless and alone, they'd be in just as much danger as they were in Bethlehem. As the Gospel of Matthew recounts, the young couple's stay in Bethlehem was cut short by a cruel order from King Herod, who had heard of the miraculous birth and did not intend to spare anyone - even an infant - in his quest to hold on to power. The Holy Family fled to Egypt, and became not just immigrants but refugees.
Really? Whatever your religious beliefs or lack thereof (and it’s odd to see a press hostile to religion in politics so quickly become theological experts when it suits their agenda), the Jesus of the Bible was no refugee.
This piece dissected left-leaning theologian Russell Moore’s similar argument: “Moore inaccurately reads the UN’s definition of “refugee” back into a Scriptural context with none of the categories of nation-states and international law that inform the UN’s definition. For example, Jesus would likely be considered an internally displaced person (IDP) by UN standards as opposed to a refugee since he fled from one place to another within the Roman Empire.”
The Orlando Sentinel recast the Christmas season as a time of repentance about voting for Trump, shamelessly pushing Christian premises in a blunt way it would mock or condemn if done by a conservative organization:
….And if you are celebrating Christmas in the tradition of faith, consider what the Bible and other holy books say: Comfort the stranger. Give aid to those in need. Stand with the cause of justice.
Father Jose Rodriguez of the Iglesia Episcopal Jesus de Nazaret in Orlando is another of the many faith leaders in the area who has spoken out against the harsh policies. His wish: For voters who supported Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis and other officials embracing this cruel and destructive crackdown to re-examine their feelings…."We're going to have to come to terms with what we voted for, and realize that we were wrong," Rodriguez says.
…. In a season dedicated to peace on earth and good will toward men, let us open one more gift: The compassion and wisdom to understand injustice is being done, (space) and the courage to admit that things must change.
Holy religious hypocrisy! The "separate the church and state" gang suddenly wants everyone to use their religion in their politics. They picked an Episcopal minister who's pals with socialist Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.).
